Suspended file for l-shaped desks



July 17, 1956 G. LUSS 2,755,155

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July 17, 1956 G. LUSS SUSPENDED FILE FOR LSHAPED DESKS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed Oct. 2, 1953 IN V EN TOR. 6.9M a 405$ United States PatentSUSPENDED FILE FOR L-SHAPED DESKS Gerald Luss, Ossining, N. Y., assignorto Designs for gusiness, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New orkApplication October 2, 1953, Serial No. 383,752

3 Claims. (Cl. 312--301) My invention relates to a suspended file forL-shaped desks and is more particularly directed to a novel arrangementwhereby the common corner area of the desk may be efficiently utilized.

Heretofore in the designing and construction of L- shaped desks, thecorner area was not properly utilized to its fullest extent. This areais either used for the replacement of a wastepaper basket or used as asemipermanent storage area. When used as a semi-permanent storage space,the area was only accessible from the back side of the desk and thus wasrather inconvenient to the user.

With the novel arrangement of my invention, I provide a suspended filewhich can be pulled parallel to one leg of the desk to thereby placesame in a position so that the drawers contained therein cansubsequently be pulled perpendicular to the desk to gain access thereto.

Thus, in its normalposition the suspended file occupies the normallywasted space of an L-shaped desk and with little effort can be moved toa position of accessibility.

Accordingly, a primary object of my invention is to provide a novelsuspended file for L-shaped desks wherein the corner area is utilized asan accessible storage area.

Another object of my invention is to provide an arrangement in which asuspended file is completely hidden and inconspicuous when not in use.

A further object of my invention is to provide a filing arrangement fordesks having two legs wherein the location of the file lends to its easeof manipulation and permits the use of the furniture as either a desk orconference table when the file is not in use.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a novel furnituredesign in which files, suspended from racks, can be hidden in a cornerof the L-shaped desk and moved to an accessible position at the will ofthe user.

In a modification of my invention, the suspended files can be operatedby motor means and controlled by a push-button accessible to the user ofthe desk. Thus, the files could actually be used as a safe or a storagespace for valuable articles which would be completely hidden anddeceptive to one not familiar with the construction of the desk.

In another modification of my arrangement, I provide curved rails forthe support of the suspended file. With this arrangement the suspendedfiles could be moved to either the desk portion or the conference tableof the furniture depending on which position is most convenient for theuser of the desk.

Accordingly, a further object of my invention is to provide aninaccessible storage space for the corner of an L-shaped desk which canbe either manually or motor operated.

Another object of my invention is to provide normally inaccessible filesin substantially L-shaped furniture which can be moved to either a firstor second accessible position depending on the will of the user of thedesk.

These and other objects of my invention will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art from the following 2,755,155 Patented July 17, 1956description when taken in connection with the drawings in which Figure 1is a perspective view of my novel L-shaped desk showing the suspendedfiles in their normally nonused position.

Figure 2 is a partial perspective view similar to Figure 1 andillustrates the position of the files when the user of the desk hasmoved them parallel to the desk and prior to the time that the drawersthereof are open.

Figure 3 is a partial perspective view similar to Figures 1 and 2 andillustrates the manner in which the drawers of the suspended file may befully out perpendicular to the desk.

Figure 4 is a side cross-sectional view of the file illustrating themanner in which same may be suspended from rails mounted on theundersurface of the desk.

Figure 5 is an end cross-sectional view taken in the direction of thelines 55 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a modification of the embodiment of Figure l and illustratesa curved rail arrangement for the suspended file.

Referring now to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the furniture is comprised of adesk portion 10 and a conference table portion 11. Thus, in essence theL-shaped furniture has a first and second leg 10 and 11.

The combined units may be positioned and mounted on the railings 12, 15.The desk portion 10 is provided with a cabinet area 13 and theconference table portion 11 may also be provided with a cabinet 14.

The L-shaped desk comprising the sections 10 and 11 overlap at the area16 which is normally an inaccessible area. However, I provide a cabinet17 which will be mounted on railings secured to the lower surface of theconference table 11 so that this area can be utilized to its fullestextent as will hereinafter be more apparent.

As best seen in Figure 4, a pair of railings 18 and 19 are permanentlysecured to the lower portion of surface 11. The cabinet 17 is providedwith guide rollers 20 and 21 secured to the upper surface thereof in anydesirable manner.

Thus, the cabinet 17 is suspended from the railings 18 and 19 and ispermitted to move with respect thereto due to the movable supportarrangement provided by the rollers 20 and 21. The user of the furnitureindicated in the figures may sit at the desk area indicated generally bythe numeral 22 or may sit at the area indicated generally by the numeral23 located at the conference portion of the furniture.

Thus, the cabinet 17 when in the inconspicuous position indicated inFigure 1 will not interfere with the use of the furniture as either adesk or as a conference table. The cabinet 17 is provided with aplurality of drawers 24, 25, 26 each of which is provided with cut-awayguides 28 and 29 on each side thereof. Longitudinal guide members 30 and31 are secured to the side walls of the cabinet 17. Thus, when thedrawers are in the position indicated in Figures 4 and 5, the guidemeans 30 and 31 respectively register with the groove guides 28 and 29of the drawers 24 (25, 26). However, when the cabinet 17 is in theinconspicuous position indicated in Figure 1, the side wall 32 which maybe permanently secured to either the desk surface 10 or the conferencetable surface 11 serves as a covering for the front of the drawers 24,25, 26.

Hence when the various parts are in the position of Figure 1, thedrawers cannot be intentionally or unintentionally moved with respect tothe cabinet 17. When the user of the desk desires to gain access to thematerial in the drawers 24, 25, 26, he pulls the cabinet 17 parallel tothe surface 11 to the position indicated in Figure 2; that is, since thecabinet 17 is slidably mounted by means of the rollers 20 and 21 on therailings 18 and 19, the

cabinet 17 can readily and easily be moved from the position of Figure 1to the position of Figure 2.

This movement thereby brings the drawers 24, 25, 26 to a position whichwill be opposite to that of the user. The drawers 24, 25, 26 can then bemoved perpendicular to the surface 11 to the position indicated inFigure 3.

Thus, access is readily attainable to the material within the cabinet17,

In the preferred embodiment of my invention illustrated in connectionwith Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, I have shown straight line railings 18 and19 mounted on the bottom portion of the surface 11. Hence in thisarrangement the cabinet 17 can only be moved from the position indicatedin Figure 1 to the position indicated in Figure 2. However, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that the guide railings 20 and 21can have a curved construction instead of a straight line construction,as best seen in Figure 6.

Thus, by removing the side surface 32, the cabinet 17 could then bemoved from the inconspicuous position of Figure 1 to either the area 23as indicated in Figures 2 and 3 or the cabinet 17 could be moved intothe area 22 at the option of the user, as illustrated by the dottedlines of Figure 6.

In this construction the curved railings 21 and 22 would have one legextending parallel to the surface 11 as indicated in the drawings andthe opposite leg extending parallel to the surface 10, as seen in Figure6.

It will be noted that the cabinet 17 may be provided with a lock means35. Thus, when the cabinet 17 is in the closed position indicated inFigure 1, the lock 35 can be operated so that unauthorized personnelwill not be able to gain access to the material contained within thedrawers 24, 25, 26; that is, if the lock 35 is operated, it will beimpossible to move the cabinet 17 into the area 23 as indicated inFigure 2.

In another modification of my invention, the cabinet 17 can beautomatically operated rather than manually operated, that is, byproviding a fractional horsepower motor. The cabinet could be moved fromthe position of Figure 1 to the position indicated in Figure 2. Thus, bymerely providing a push-button control which would be readily accessibleto the user of the furniture, the cabinet could be moved to anaccessible position by merely pushing the button which in turn wouldenergize the fractional horsepower motor to move the cabinet into thearea 23.

In summary, I have provided a novel arrangement for substantiallyL-shaped furniture wherein the comer area is used to support a cabinetin such a manner that it can readily be brought into an accessibleposition whereby the user of the desk can gain access to the drawerssupported therein.

Thus, with my novel arrangement I utilize the heretofore wasted cornerarea of the L-shaped desk, provide a completely hidden and inconspicuouscabinet or file, enable the use of either portion of the desk eventhough the corner area is utilized for storage, and maintain ease ofoperation to gain access to the drawers within the cabinet.

In the foregoing, I have described my invention only in connection withpreferred embodiments thereof. Many variations and modifications of theprinciples of my invention within the scope of the description hereinare obvious. Accordingly, I prefer to be bound not by the specificdisclosure herein but only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an L-shaped desk comprising a desk portion and a conference tableportion, said desk portion and said conference table portion overlappingin a corner area, a pair of guide railings supported from the uppersurface of said corner area, a cabinet slidably mounted on saidrailings, said cabinet movable from said corner area parallel to saidconference table portion, said cabinet c0ntaining a plurality of drawersslidably mounted therein, said drawers movable perpendicular to saidconference table portion after said cabinet is moved parallel to saidconference area from said corner position to a second position.

2. Furniture comprising a first and second leg, said first and secondleg positioned with respect to each other to form a substantiallyL-shaped desk having a corner area, curved guide railings mounted insaid corner area, said curved guide railings having one portionextending parallel to said first leg, said curved guide railings havinga second portion extending parallel to said second leg, a cabinetcontaining rollers guidably mounted in said curved railings, saidrollers and said railings serving as a guide and support for saidcabinet, said cabinet normally positioned in said corner area, saidcabinet being movable to a second position when moved parallel to saidfirst leg, said cabinet being movable to a third position when movedparallel to said second leg.

3. Furniture comprising a first and second leg, said first and secondleg positioned with respect to each other to form a substantiallyL-shape having a corner area, curved guide railings mounted in saidcorner area, said curved guide railings having one portion extendingparallel to said first leg, said curved guide railings having a secondportion extending parallel to said second leg, a cabinet containingrollers guidably mounted in said curved railings, said rollers and saidrailings sewing as a guide and support for said cabinet, said cabinetnormal- ]y positioned in said corner area, said cabinet being movable toa second position when moved parallel to said first leg, said cabinetbeing movable to a third position when moved parallel to said secondleg, said cabinet containing a plurality of slidably mounted drawers,said drawers movable perpendicular to said first leg when said cabinetis moved to said second position, said drawers movable perpendicular tosaid second leg when said cabinet is moved to said third position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.169,375 Knoll Apr. 21, 1953 842,780 Gardner Ian. 29, 1907 1,585,102Langdon May 18, 1926 2,643,167 Wade June 23. 1953

